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Today's Opinions

My sister and I took one of our friends out to lunch Saturday. He doesn't have family here and during a recent conversation we thought it would be a nice idea. He selected the restaurant and we set out for a nice afternoon. First thing I noticed was that there weren't a lot of people out beating the rush, as they do for Mother's Day.

We also stopped by a few shops and the shoppers were scarce. No one seemed to be planning a big day for Sunday.

My truck and my wife quit in the same week. Can you believe that? That old Chevy had been with me since October of 1989. The old…the old…uh…uh…my beautiful wife has been with me since...uh…for a little bit longer!

Whew!

I lacked four months getting 20 years from the truck. It carried me a little over 279,000 miles. Most of them pretty smooth. Josh was 14 when I wheeled up into the yard in the shiny new vehicle. Jesse had just turned 12.

The corn on the cob would stick to my teeth. The barbecue was accompanied with mild, hot, or sweet sauce. The potato salad was more than adequate if they went light on the mustard and the egg halves. The hot dogs were always a might over done. And the ketchup bottles were so sticky after the first five people went through that I wouldn’t pick one up for nothing! The drinks were iced down in No. 3 washtubs. And the dessert table took up a whole corner of the town square.

I was supposed to have started a new job this past Monday. It didn’t happen. I was promised things that, when it came time to sign on the dotted line, weren’t delivered. I politely declined, and came home to the Times. I’m a lot of things, but stupid ain’t one of them.

We are one month into hurricane season and thankfully there has been nothing sighted in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. But the last thing we need to do is become complacent. Now is the time to get ready for hurricane season by doing all of those things that the National Weather Service deems important. Now is the time to get those trees cut down or trimmed.

Raymond Mercer would ease a “chaw” of "Day's Work" from one side of his jaw to the other. He’d squint off toward the back of the Parke Theater. He’d squat down on his haunches and expertly ease a load of juice equal distance between the toes of his trail worn Red Wings. He’d peer up at Luke Finley’s dark-colored mule. He’d squint back toward the theater again, spit and slightly nod his head up and down. We all breathed a sigh of relief. He bought the animal!

Like a lot of people, I was shocked when I heard the news that Michael Jackson had died. To me, it was like losing a member of the family. It really didn't sink in right away either. Only after I got home and turned to CNN did I realize that Michael, as I call him, was gone forever.

Everyone has a favorite Michael story. And no one ever forgets the first time they saw Michael on television and definitely no one forgets the first time they saw Michael in person.